Rude divers

[lowflyer]

Grateful Diver is a very forgiving and nice guy. If someone bumps into me, sticks his camera between me and what I'm looking at or gets in my way in some other way, I can't think of how that isn't rudeness. It's rude if someone has to get his shot no matter what. It's rude if a novice diver doesn't recognize his lack of skill in not bumping into other people, etc. Accidents can happen in which case the rude diver doesn't acknowledge his intrusion, but the polite diver does.

My approach is to stay away from the group and find my own interesting stuff, with or without a buddy. If a divemaster is leading, the group generally stays close to him as he points out things. I stay back until they have moved on. Maybe by that time the "whatever" has disappeared, but I remain a calm, relaxed and happy guy

 

[maj2]

Shortly after my daughter was certified, we went on a trip to Grand Bahama, and spent a couple of days diving. There were three photographers on the boat, including myself with my Canon and housing. The others both had GoPro's on sticks. One was one of the most considerate divers that I have ever encountered. The other would barge in for anything she suspected was a photo worth taking. And that usually meant anything that someone else was photographing.
At one point in the dive, I took my daughter to a barren sandy area to get a photo of her. Just her, the sand and water. Lo and behold, the GoPro on a stick ended up in my frame! Thankfully, it was not too hard to edit out, as it was in the sand portion of the photo and was not blocking my daughter.
I just shook my head that the other diver was so blindly darting everywhere to take photos without even apparently looking to see what the subject matter actually was...

 

[UFOrb]

Shortly after my daughter was certified, we went on a trip to Grand Bahama, and spent a couple of days diving. There were three photographers on the boat, including myself with my Canon and housing. The others both had GoPro's on sticks. One was one of the most considerate divers that I have ever encountered. The other would barge in for anything she suspected was a photo worth taking. And that usually meant anything that someone else was photographing.
At one point in the dive, I took my daughter to a barren sandy area to get a photo of her. Just her, the sand and water. Lo and behold, the GoPro on a stick ended up in my frame! Thankfully, it was not too hard to edit out, as it was in the sand portion of the photo and was not blocking my daughter.
I just shook my head that the other diver was so blindly darting everywhere to take photos without even apparently looking to see what the subject matter actually was...

One of the, what I call, 'tick-off' types I'm guessing. They rush around all over the place trying to tick off items on their things to do/places to see list and taking photos, without actually really experiencing anything. An example of the Instant Gratification Generation.

 

[pepperbelly]

I wonder if grateful diver may have hit the main problem- unaware divers due to lack of peripheral vision and not looking around.
How many of us have had our masks kicked off or almost kicked off by a diver not paying attention. I have seen divers even without cameras simply swim into another diver to their side or under another diver. I think they just aren't looking around.
I usually dive with my brother and nephew. They get into taking pics and sometimes don't pay attention to where I am, so I am always looking around keeping an eye on them. When in a group I also tend to look around for everyone else so I don't stray too far from the group and make the DM's job harder. I usually look around for the DM too since nobody else does and he might need a buddy too.
Many of the divers I have been with seem to be in their own little world. It's almost as if they expect someone else to be watching them and they don't bother to look around for other divers.
This past February I went on a cruise and dove in Grand Cayman and Cozumel. There were a couple of other older divers that looked around like I did. We did share a few smiles at what the others did, and a few shrugged shoulders. Those were guided dives. I can't imagine what some divers are like when they are on their own.

 

[Bubblesong]

We just got back from great dives near Pompano Beach, (leaving our GoPro behind to preserve our safety). While another diver had the GoPro on a stick, he was super nice and kept with his Dad-buddy so no problem with him. However we killed three lionfish but have no photo to boast about it. Drat.

 

[gypsyjim]

We just got back from great dives near Pompano Beach, (leaving our GoPro behind to preserve our safety). While another diver had the GoPro on a stick, he was super nice and kept with his Dad-buddy so no problem with him. However we killed three lionfish but have no photo to boast about it. Drat.

The lionfish are far better eating than pictures every day of the week anyway.

 

[Maldives Diving Adventure]

Only been diving 3 years but have dove with quite a few different people. I would not worry about rude divers being the norm.

Great! don't worry about them.
Divers are probably the most chill axed, carefree gathering of individuals you will ever meet. They are agreeable, all around voyaged and are for the most part brave people with loads of awesome stories to tell. That is, with the exception of the rude diver..

Diving Adventure Maldives

 

[Bob DBF]

Their behavior usually boils down to one of three things ... either they don't have the skills to stay out of your way, they aren't aware that they're doing it, or they simply have different priorities than you do.

All of which meets a definition of rude.

Being unaware of one's behavior does not make one's actions less rude. As for skills and priorities, one should not be negatively impacting other divers while learning skills and acting on one's priorities.


Bob

 

[Coztick]

With good situational awareness, the "other" divers are usually easy to avoid.
That said, I was kicked in the head for the first time my last vacation. ( I was drifting, he was darting around)

 

[Cr.padlo]

rude divers are few and far between, I wouldn't worry about it too much. nice divers are everywhere. On spring break I met many amazing divers, one who even let me borrow their UV light for the low price of a 6-pack of beer. Ignore the rude divers, the good ones more than make up for their lack of manners